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GT350R Splitter worth it?

MrCincinnati

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Does it do anything at all I want some small justification to add it. Do I think it will increase lap times, I leave so much time on the table I do not think so.
By itself without balancing the rear it will likely increase oversteer a bit due to less lift on the front of the car, by how much - I don't know, maybe someone else here does. If you then balanced that with one of the knock off R wings (for budget concerns) then you might have a net positive to overall downforce without the increase to oversteer/understeer that would negate the performance increase.

**edit** (in high speed turns...)
If you're not experiencing understeer currently, I wouldn't change it by itself.
If you really like the looks but don't want to introduce oversteer - I'd consider the rear wing as part of the cost of consumption and re-evaluate if that cost/change of aesthetic on the back is worth what you're looking for on the front.
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nastang87xx

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Some people here are running a square setup for tires. This is kind of the same thing, right?
I run my square setup because that's all that will functionally and realistically work for my race setups. Otherwise I will try to run 295/305 on the street as much as I can. And that 35 aspect ratio will help with my clearance issues some.

Frankly I agree with what you are saying - and I would rather have the rear wing first if choosing either the splitter or the wing. When I'm traveling at triple digits I want the front of the car to stay in the front.
I would agree as well. Kinda funny how you put that lol. But so true. Say what the haters may say but I'm seriously considering picking up a left over APR GTC Drag Wing to replace my rear spoiler.

https://www.i-5autohaus.com/product-page/2015-2017-mustang-apr-carbon-fiber-gtc-drag-wing
 

Tomster

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Some people here are running a square setup for tires. This is kind of the same thing, right?

Frankly I agree with what you are saying - and I would rather have the rear wing first if choosing either the splitter or the wing. When I'm traveling at triple digits I want the front of the car to stay in the front.
All I was saying is that there is a difference. I tracked the white 16 track pack at Daytona last year with a standard 350 splitter and spoiler. This year I ran the yellow R and it felt much more planted (in a very balanced way). Add either the R wing OR the R splitter and I can see an unbalanced situation.

So IMHO, if you are tracking the car, you should get one of the knock off rear wings and the R splitter and run some kind of R compound tire of your choice. Never, never, would I pay the price for an OEM rear wing. There are mfg's that make carbon fiber in the exact R spec, however that will require drilling. If I were to do it, I would just get a new lid and keep the OEM virgin.

So, what's the point? There is a difference, but is it worth the added expense. These days, for all the trouble, it might be worth just selling or trading in your track pack and move up to an R.
 

nastang87xx

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By itself without balancing the rear it will likely increase oversteer a bit due to less lift on the front of the car, by how much - I don't know, maybe someone else here does. If you then balanced that with one of the knock off R wings (for budget concerns) then you might have a net positive to overall downforce without the increase to oversteer/understeer that would negate the performance increase.

**edit** (in high speed turns...)
If you're not experiencing understeer currently, I wouldn't change it by itself.
If you really like the looks but don't want to introduce oversteer - I'd consider the rear wing as part of the cost of consumption and re-evaluate if that cost/change of aesthetic on the back is worth what you're looking for on the front.
The base GT350 does experience a bit of understeer but it's relatively safe. It really doesn't start to show until you're really pushing it on the track or running autocross. I've hit that limit, I know where it lives. A BMR front swaybar on soft or a Steeda front swaybar on 2 out of 4 stiffness can easily correct this.

Most real corners on most tracks aren't going to really take advantage of aero since you're just not going fast enough. Where aero really helps is high speed sweepers and kinks. If I were to get that APR wing that I mentioned in my previous post, I'd actually take the wing off and just leave the risers on for autocross so I can stay CAM legal.
 

Hack

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nastang87xx

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I wonder how much down force that produces versus the R wing? It looks good, but to me the R wing is a piece of art. Maybe someday...
I do like how the R wing flows with the rest of the car. But because I'm stubborn and everyone does the R wing, I can't do it. :ninja:

The GTC Drag wing is about 5" tall. The GTC-300 is closer in height to the R wing. The GTC-300 is 10.5" tall. I would be inclined to believe the GTC-300 will produce more downforce than the R wing. I think the GTC Drag wing probably produced less than the R wing but more than the Track Pack spoiler and probably no penalty in overall drag. I think the GTC-300 would make a lot of sense in lowest downforce setting BUT only with comparable front downforce to the R cars.

http://aprperformance.com/racing-product/gtc-300-adjustable-wings/


On another note, APR's stuff used to be GARBAGE but they've really stepped up their game in quality control.
 

BmacIL

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When you ask is it worth it, what context are you asking this in?

Are you asking if it would improve your laptimes? Are you asking if the improvement to looks is worth the $ and hassle? Something else?

If you're asking with regard to actually improving performance --- is there something you're attempting to correct with the cars track handling? Is more splitter area the solution?

If you're asking about looks vs practicality - you're probably the only one that can answer whether it's worth it to you.

The splitter itself doesn't generate downforce, it just allows more high pressure to build up on top / low pressure below. So - compared to the regular 350 splitter, it will allow for more high pressure above it and that will allow for more low pressure below it. Like someone already mentioned - you'd want to balance that change with a relative change to the rear aero. It would also flow more air into your coolers on the front.

http://www.formula1-dictionary.net/splitter.html
Hate to be pedantic, but that is downforce. Downforce is a pressure differential that pushes the car down, in the simplest terms. It can be done between the top and bottom surfaces of a wing, or between the sheetmetal and underbody, as a splitter does. Either way it's still downforce. The GT350 splitter essentially makes the front end lift neutralized at most track speeds. The R splitter actually adds downforce, as does the wing.
 

DirtRoadTrip

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I run the r splitter with the regular GT350 rear spoiler, along with r front springs and a square 19x11 setup. The car rotates more for sure, but in a positive way. Where I do feel a bit disadvantaged is in high speed braking stability, where I think more rear downforce would help. I’m not worried about it enough to spend the $$$ yet on more rear downforce; car feels awesome on the track.
 
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The base GT350 does experience a bit of understeer but it's relatively safe. It really doesn't start to show until you're really pushing it on the track or running autocross. I've hit that limit, I know where it lives. A BMR front swaybar on soft or a Steeda front swaybar on 2 out of 4 stiffness can easily correct this.

Most real corners on most tracks aren't going to really take advantage of aero since you're just not going fast enough. Where aero really helps is high speed sweepers and kinks. If I were to get that APR wing that I mentioned in my previous post, I'd actually take the wing off and just leave the risers on for autocross so I can stay CAM legal.
Interesting I find car quite neutral. I am running a square set up though.

I run the r splitter with the regular GT350 rear spoiler, along with r front springs and a square 19x11 setup. The car rotates more for sure, but in a positive way. Where I do feel a bit disadvantaged is in high speed braking stability, where I think more rear downforce would help. I’m not worried about it enough to spend the $$$ yet on more rear downforce; car feels awesome on the track.
Funny that is my biggest concern also.
 

MrCincinnati

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Hate to be pedantic, but that is downforce. Downforce is a pressure differential that pushes the car down, in the simplest terms. It can be done between the top and bottom surfaces of a wing, or between the sheetmetal and underbody, as a splitter does. Either way it's still downforce. The GT350 splitter essentially makes the front end lift neutralized at most track speeds. The R splitter actually adds downforce, as does the wing.
There is no noteworthy force "added" by the 350R splitter. There's more high pressure on top so more low pressure below it. We don't need to argue about it - go stand on a 350R splitter and let me know how far the car went down before it snapped off. Also note how distorted the spoiler becomes under your weight.

I think there was a report the GT350R aero package generates more aggregate downforce at speed than a 911 GT3... 911 GT3 has net of like 276 at 186mph.

Assuming you don't weight 276lbs - if you go stand on the front spoiler of an R - it will pull the car down (before snapping) and prior to snapping it will bend the spoiler itself..

Now compare that visual to what you actually see in photos of GT350Rs at speed (or any cars with cheap plastic composite front spoilers).

Meanwhile - a Dodge Viper ACR will produce about 1700lbs of downforce at speed.. which is why you can do this on its rear wing:
sleep on wing.jpg
 
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DirtRoadTrip

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If I do add rear downforce I’m going to skip the r replica wing and go straight to an APR on a complete trunk lid assembly.
 

betterthansx

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There is no force "added" by the 350R splitter. There's more high pressure on top so more low pressure below it. We don't need to argue about it - go stand on a 350R splitter and let me know how far the car went down before it snapped off. (just don't do that to mine)
It does ADD downforce.

It doesn't add 300lbs of downforce though. So there is no need for it to be that strong.

It probably adds, I did a quick Google search but didn't find an actual number, around 80-200lbs of downforce between the front splitter and rear wing. You cannot generate downforce with either, you need both as a splitter alone can make the rear end very light. A wing can cause the front end to become light. You don't want either of these things.

The biggest point of the splitter isn't to hold you up, it is to create a smooth transition to separate the air going under the car and over the car.
 

MrCincinnati

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It does ADD downforce.

It doesn't add 300lbs of downforce though. So there is no need for it to be that strong.

It probably adds, I did a quick Google search but didn't find an actual number, around 80-200lbs of downforce between the front splitter and rear wing. You cannot generate downforce with either, you need both as a splitter alone can make the rear end very light. A wing can cause the front end to become light. You don't want either of these things.

The biggest point of the splitter isn't to hold you up, it is to create a smooth transition to separate the air going under the car and over the car.
It doesn't "add" downforce. It causes a decrease to the pressure of the air below the front bottom of the car by increasing the area over which high pressure air flows above it. There's a difference between forcing something down and reducing what's lifting it in the first place. The front spoiler does the latter.
 

Muligan

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I thought it was worth it, so I added the R splitter. Not a DD, but still drive it in town a bit, so up and down driveways on occasion and so far no issues.

I did balance it with the R rear wing - in my case the version made by Carbon2Carbon, which is said to be an exact replica from an aero perspective. I did the full trunk lid swap so that I could wrap the original one up and store it.

 

BmacIL

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It doesn't "add" downforce. It causes a decrease to the pressure of the air below the front bottom of the car by increasing the area over which high pressure air flows above it. There's a difference between forcing something down and reducing what's lifting it in the first place. The front spoiler does the latter.
I'm sorry, but I'm going to be blunt: your ignorance is showing. You seem a smart person, but you're incorrect on what you think downforce is. Reducing lift is adding downforce. They're the same thing. Whether or not something creates net positive downforce is a different story. Very few road cars do.

Study some fluid mechanics, and in particular how it applies to cars, planes, etc.
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